Created on Thursday, 23 January 2014
Written by JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal officials are continuing a series of public meetings to discuss options for keeping invasive species such as Asian carp from moving between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the White House Council on Environmental Quality will host the latest session Thursday in Traverse City. It's among nine that are scheduled in the Great Lakes region, as well as St. Louis and New Orleans.

The Corps released a report this month with eight alternatives for closing off pathways for aquatic invaders in Chicago-area waterways that link Lake Michigan with the Mississippi basin. They range from doing nothing new to spending more than $18 billion over 25 years erecting barriers that would seal off the two watersheds from each other.